Nevermore
by The Genius Mage
Summary: In the far future, there are no more wolves in Nippon. Or, at least Satoshi and Mika thought so when they took a shortcut through the woods and encountered a white wolf that seemed to be carrying the world on its shoulders. Oneshot.


…_~Nevermore~…_

There are no more wolves in Nippon.

Or, at least, that's what the two children had been told. Heading for their home after shopping in the market, the duo of siblings were delighted to see snow falling gently to the earth. It was clear it would be sticking, and the landscape around them began to take on the appearance of a great rising and falling wave of white. Once, a long time ago, this place had been called Shinshuu Field. But now more than half the field was covered in a thin forest that grew gradually thicker around the middle, and thus it had a new counterpart called the "Seirei Hayashi", or the "Spirit Wood".

For within its depths it was often said that monsters were sometimes spotted on full moon nights, and when the sun was shining brightly, you may see the flash of a white wolf called Shiranui speeding through the forest on silent paws. The two kids were not sure about all of this, but the older sibling, a strong, confident young boy of twelve years with dark hair and bright eyes named Satoshi decided to lead his little sister through a shortcut in the Seirei Hayashi.

Mika, looking extraordinarily like her brother save for the fact that her black hair was long, all the way at her back, was staring wide eyed at the trees around them as they entered the fringes of the forest.

"Satoshi," she squeaked. "Is this safe?"

Her older brother was glancing around them as if searching for one of the elusive "spirit monsters". "Hmm? Perfectly so, dear sister of mine! Just stay close."

They continued on, cutting diagonally through the woods and skipping the harder to transverse hills. The forest rose smoothly compared to the rocky slopes, and the children knew they'd soon find the sprawling town on the top where the trees thinned.

An unexpected sound caught their attention, and Satoshi whirled around, stepping in front of his seven year old sister and taking out his knife in a flash of vibrant silver. "Who's there?" He called.

Mika suppressed a squeal of delight and whispered excitedly, "Shh!"

"Huh?" Satoshi looked down at her. "What do you mean?"

"Shh! Big brother, you'll scare it off! _Look!_" Mika pointed a tiny finger into the trees, and Satoshi gasped.

Facing them, crouching down on a silver boulder sprinkled with snow, was a white wolf. If it hadn't been for the fact that the frost had yet to claim every bit of green in the wood, it would have been completely invisible. The wolf had strong shoulders and a round muzzle, large pointed ears and a gorgeous fur coat of shimmering ivory, like fire, glowing without any sunlight needed.

It blinked coal black eyes, rising slowly, and though Satoshi tensed, preparing for an attack, he couldn't help but marvel at the fluid grace in the wolf's body. It stepped soundlessly off the rock, padding toward them. Its paw prints seemed to reveal flowers hidden under the snow at every step. It wasn't walking right to be stalking prey, and it wasn't snarling or growling. In fact, its tail was wagging.

Before Satoshi could stop her, Mika wriggled out from behind him and ran forward. He felt his chest contract as she bent down and stroked the wolf's furry head. It made a sort of happy whining sound, leaning into her touch. "Can we keep it, Satoshi? Can we?" Mika begged.

Her brother stammered, "Of course not! It's a wild animal! It may even be Shiranui herself, though to be honest, this white wolf acts more like a dog. Maybe that's what it is."

The wolf gave him a fierce glare from inky black eyes. He had a feeling he had offended it. Satoshi swallowed nervously, keeping a tight grip on his knife, when the wolf pulled away from his sister and walked slowly forward.

Nose twitching, it crouched down and bared its teeth, lurching on its paws as if it had trouble keeping still. With a fierce snarl it bunched its muscles and jumped.

At that exact moment, in an explosion of freezing cold white particles, a monstrous creature erupted from the earth and whirled around in midair to face the children and the wolf. Satoshi fell onto his back and scrambled away from it, getting a good look at the monster right before the wolf landed on it.

The _thing_ was a good six feet tall, with two pallid heads like humongous crows. The beaks were jagged and sharp, the eyes were burning red and yellow, and the rest of the body seemed to be stuck halfway in the process of splitting. It almost seemed like a madman had sewn two crows to one another, connected by their backs, dressed them up in white samurai suits, and then passed them two swords, one for each clawed foot. Four pairs of wings beat and churned the air, and a terrible cry erupted from both mouths.

Then the wolf was there, and it dragged down the monster by weight alone. It twisted, and seemingly without lifting a claw, slashed a wing in half. Blood spurted onto the newly fallen snow, and Satoshi scrambled to grab Mika. He longed to run, but his sister refused to move, and he grudgingly paused, a part of him anxious. What if the wolf died, protecting them? He'd feel terrible. It had to be the last wolf in all of Nippon.

The demonic monster lashed out with its swords, but the wolf still didn't move, but the swords bounced off of something as if they had been reflected. Puzzled, Satoshi squinted, and swore he saw a vague outline of a red disc. The wolf then started clawing and biting, gnashing its teeth over the monster's throat. More blood streamed into the air, steaming in the snow, turning it black. The crow beast struggled to its claws and swiped at the wolf, which dodged nimbly and then struck once more with that strange invisible force.

Satoshi and Mika watched, open mouthed and wide eyed, as the crow took another unseen blow and burst into golden dust motes that landed in the snow. Where they fell, pale snow blossoms sprang up from the earth. The area around the fight was churned into a murky, disgusting mess of blood and demon feathers, but the wolf itself had not been harmed. The fight had only lasted a few seconds, but to Satoshi it had been like forever.

He walked hesitantly toward the wolf, and it lifted its head and gazed back at him with sad, tired eyes. Satoshi patted its head. "Good boy," he whispered.

The wolf shook its head slowly from side to side, and the bewildered boy only needed a moment to figure it out. "Good girl?"

A nod.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He had already figured out she wasn't a normal wolf. "My name's Satoshi, and that's Mika. Thank you…for saving us. What's your name?"

A moment's hesitation, then the wolf went to cleaner snow and started scratching at the slush with long claws. In the wintery powder appeared the words, _"Amaterasu/Shiranui"_ and underneath it, underlined, was _"Ammy"_.

"Ammy? You want to be called Ammy?" Satoshi said slowly. He wondered if he had gone delusional. The wolf nodded her head.

"Shiranui! I heard of you!" Mika exclaimed cheerfully. "You're the spirit beast in the woods!"

Ammy shrugged. With another weary sigh she turned around.

"W-wait! Wolf…I mean, Ammy." Satoshi mumbled.

The wolf's ears perked up, but she didn't turn around.

"C-can you come home with us? Please? Or at least until we're out of these woods. I don't want to get attacked again. It's only a little ways, please!" Satoshi couldn't let anything bad happen to his sister, he just couldn't. And he knew he'd never beat any of those crow monsters.

Ammy faced them once more, and she wagged her tail again before walking to his side. Silently the trio set off, climbing the slopes. The Seirei Hayashi was full of snow by now, and the biting cold was making him chilly, and Mika was shivering slightly. The wolf was thoroughly unbothered, and she kept a careful watch out for trouble.

Unfortunately, Satoshi was a little disappointed when the lights of the village came in sight. Kneeling down, he opened his pouch and offered the wolf some of the dried meat they had acquired in the market just a little while earlier. Ammy sniffed it before taking it gently from his hands, and he was a little disoriented by the sight of her sharp, long teeth. She swallowed, and her tail wagged with renewed energy.

"Thank you so much!" Mika squealed, wrapping her arms around the wolf. Satoshi just petted Ammy's head once more, agreeing with his little sister.

Ammy dipped her head and slowly started for the forest again. Satoshi watched her go, her paw steps heavy, shoulders slumped. She looked tired and miserable and depressed, and beyond anything else, the wolf looked weary of the world and its happenings. She looked like she just wanted to rest.

"Hey, Ammy!" He called before he could stop himself.

She shook her head and turned around yet again.

"Would you like to come live with us?" Mika asked before he could. She clasped her hands in front of her chest pleadingly.

Ammy shook her head.

Satoshi wanted to help…somehow. "What if we come visit you?"

Ammy hesitated.

"Yeah! Every single day! When the sun sets!" Mika piped up.

This time the wolf paused for several heartbeats, then she nodded, and Mika and Satoshi watched as she sprang away with renewed vigor, vanishing into the Spirit Woods, her pelt sliding through the trees before vanishing into the snow.

Heading for their home in the town, Satoshi said both names to himself, because they both held extreme power, he thought. "Shiranui…" But this one sounded stronger than the other.

"Amaterasu."

~***~

_**Set so far in the future of Nippon that anything could have happened to explain this, so if you have questions, take that into account.**_

_**A random oneshot I felt like doing, mind dropping a review?**_


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